Participants in a rally of the "People's Will" party in Sevastopol (RIA Novosti / Vasiliy Batanov) / RIA Novosti

Russia does not doubt Crimea is a part of Ukraine, even though it understands the emotions of the residents of the region, the chair of the Russian Upper House Valentina Matvienko has said.

“Russia is not taking any provocative actions, especially on
the state level. Today we consider it a fact that Crimea is a
part of Ukraine,” the speaker of the Federation Council said
in a television interview.

“But it is also a fact that currently we are witnessing
certain moods that have emerged after no one asked the
Crimeans’opinion about the decisions that are being taken in
Kiev,” Matvienko added.

She met the chairman of the legislature of the Autonomous
Republic of Crimea, Vladimir Konstantinov, and he assured her
that the people of the region would defend their
autonomy.Konstantinov said that about 60 percent of Crimean
residents are ethnic Russians who care a lot about issues of
national language, education and culture.

Officials and the people of the Eastern regions of Ukraine have
voiced concern over the statements and moves of opposition
leaders who came to power in the country on the wave of violent
protests that raged in Kiev over the past two months. One of the
crucial issues for them is the status of the Russian language.

Almost immediately after President Viktor Yanukovich abandoned
his post and fled last week, the Ukrainian parliament voted to
repeal the existing language law. It had allowed regions where
the non-Ukrainian population was 10 percent or more to introduce
additional official languages. After the law was canceled the
only official language in the country is Ukrainian. According to
some sources, the head of the Freedom Party, Oleg Tyagnibok
recently told supporters in Kiev that the use of the Russian
language should be criminalized and all ethnic Russians should be
stripped of citizenship and live under non-citizen status.

These moves and reports caused an upset throughout the East of
Ukraine but the protests were especially vocal in Crimea. The
peninsula’s historical and ethnic ties with Russia are stronger
than those with Ukraine, and it is the only region that has a
status of an autonomous republic. In addition, Russia leases the
Crimean port of Sevastopol and the Russian Black Sea Fleet is
stationed there.

Russia has sent a delegation of MPs to the region led by the head
of the State Duma committee for CIS and compatriots, Leonid
Slutsky. “The cancellation of the regional status of the
Russian language is a very worrying signal, as it can cause the
narrowing of the Russian language space in Ukraine, including in
education,” he told reporters during his visit. “They
are trying to tear Ukraine away from Russia, including with the
use of the language factor, through the opportunity of the
younger generation to speak and receive education in
Russian,” Slutsky added.

“In this situation Russia must expand its cooperation with
Ukrainian residents, up to every separate family that does not
want to get disconnected from the Russian language and the
Russian world,” the Russian MP emphasized.

Earlier this week the nationalist Liberal Democratic Party of
Russia initiated a bill that allows Russian citizenship within
six month if the applicant successfully proves his or hers
Russian ethnicity. This can be done by presenting documents
proving that any of one’s direct ancestors had Russian
citizenship by birth. The sponsors of the bill stressed that it
was prepared especially to save Russian speaking Ukrainians from
possible infringement of their rights.